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Ryūichirō Isaka
Ryūichirō Isaka (井坂 龍一郎) is the 32-year-old senior managing director of Marukawa Publishing and a childhood friend of Haruhiko. He and his assistant Asahina, who is his childhood best friend and lover, are the main characters of the short comics released with the DVDs, "Junjou Mistake". The initial beginning part of their storyline takes place ten years before the main Romantica storyline before resuming up to the present time. History Background Isaka grew up as a rich, upper class child due to his father owning a successful publishing company. Isaka admits how he was "a brat" as a child due to his rich and pampered lifestyle. He and Asahina became playmates after Isaka's father took his family in after Asahina's father attempted a family suicide when his company went bankrupt. When introduced, Isaka initially thinks he can just dispose of him when he grew tired with him. However, once he saw Asahain's bandaged and bruised appearance, he immediately decides to look out for him. As an adult, he initially aspired to become a novelist, but knew he had no talent in the field. He instead held great talent in being able to tell which books would prove to have success and which ones wouldn't. Isaka scouted Usami Akihiko after coming across one of his stories on his desk while waiting in his room to give him a book. He officially gave up his dreams of writing a novel after reading Usami's writing, knowing he'd never be able to write something like that and had no real talent as a writer in the first place. He orders Usami to send his work to the Marukawa publishing house. Isaka then finally resolves to "ride this company to the top" devoting himself to be an editor to many top selling authors and books. During his career, Isaka dealt with gossip about how his success was only on account of his father's wealthy and powerful name. However, he is not ashamed of his family name, but embraces it. He also refuses to let those who claim he only has success because of his last name bring him down, instead facing those who bash him head-on and face-to-face. Appearance and Personality Appearance Isaka has brown hair and eyes along with fair skin. He usually is seen in formal attire due to his busy job. Personality Isaka has an outspoken and usually easy going personality. He can be very excited when it comes to his job while managing Akihiko's career, although not hesitating to trick him into attending events that can up Akihiko's name and title in the novel department. However, with Asahina, he usually expects to be cared for, even being dried after taking a bath or getting wet in the rain. Although this is implied to be on account of his feelings for Asahina and feeling emotionally assured whenever he does so. Series In the anime adaptation, he first appears interrupting Akihiko and Misaki while they are on a date, having been to a dinner himself and completely drunk. He ruins the date for the couple, making Misaki insecure when spouting off about Akihiko's past and childhood - details that Misaki knew nothing about. He then attempts to kiss Akihiko, who slams him against the wall just as Asahina arrives and drags him away to be taken home by his coat collar. Isaka later appears in the spin-off series Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi, which centers around the relationship between Ritsu Onodera and Masamune Takano at Marukawa Publishing. He makes several more appearances throughout the series, usually running into Takano or Ritsu and making a comment about Ritu's powerful family name being good business strategy for him, making the latter insecure since he wants no association with them. He gets one episode focused on his relationship with Asahina, going back to when he is younger and how his relationship with Asahina had started and developed into a romance. He is centered in an episode of'' Junjou Romantica'' season three which focuses on his relationship with Asahina and jump starts to present times. At this point, the two have been together for a decade now and Isaka begins to question of Asahina has grown tired of him and shows his more insecure side. Relationships Kaoru Asahina The two met as children when Isaka's father took Asahina's family in following they had hit hard times. When seeing Asahina's bruised and almost broken appearance, Isaka had become determined to look out for him. Isaka gave Asahina a plant that his mother mistakenly bought, the Amadokoro plant ("Cheer" in Japanese), which made Asahina smile for the first time. It is later revealed how Asahina took care of the plant to where, even ten years later, it remained healthy and perfectly intact. Ever since this moment, the two remained very close and established a strong connection. Ever since he was a child, Isaka knew early on that he was in love with Asahina. However, he came to the belief that Asahina was in love with his father based on how he always smiled and acted around him. This resulted in jealousy that Isaka harbored towards his father on account of his feelings for Asahina. After some misunderstandings, Asahina eventually decided to leave Isaka's life, returning the plant he had been keeping as a token of Isaka in his life. Their unclear feelings came to head with a confrontation between the two young men. This resulted in them both revealing that they have been in love with each other for years (Asahina admitting he has been in love with Isaka since their childhood as well), but believed the other didn't return their feelings. Asahina also tells Isaka that, what he thought to be romantic love, was only Asahina's sincere admiration and great respect for Isaka's father. From here, they consummate their feelings and become a couple. By the time Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi ''and ''Junjou Romantica take place, the two have been together for ten years. As a result of being together for so long, Isaka fears that Asahina has begun an affair due to often not wanting to spend any alone time together and the great amount of time they have been in a relationship. However, it is actually revealed to be on the account of Asahina not wishing to distract Isaka from his new job as CEO because of his personal feelings. The two make up and Asahina reveals that he bought flowers for Isaka in order to celebrate their ten year anniversary. Trivia *He, along with Kaoru Asahina, made an appearance on Junjou Romantica in episode 7. *The couple name of Asahina and Isaka is Junjou Mistake. They are called that way for several confusions in their relationship. Some fans, though, call the couple "Junjou Mystique". *He usually calls Ritsu "Nanahikari" (someone under the influence of his father). Also, like Onodera, he knows Akihiko Usami due to personally working with him regarding his career as an author. *While he has a seme appearance, he is actually a uke. *He and Asahina are the only two characters who are actively a part of both the Junjou Romantica and ''Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi ''franchises. While both series take place in the same time, setting and universe, they are the only two characters to make regular appearances in both series and have one episode in both series anime seasons focused on them. Category:Male Characters Category:Uke Category:Mistake Category:Characters